Andy Munro writes about Blues’ continued misfortunes.
The unfortunate sound of the chant “You don’t know what you’re doing” is now going around and around in my head, as it probably is with most Bluenoses. Perhaps a warning sign was Gianfranco Zola almost bemoaning the fact that, Donaldson and Morrison apart, everybody was fit, leaving him with selection problems. Now Zola is obviously a nice guy and perhaps having ‘too many’ players means that he’s got to be a bit ruthless but, on this occasion, he failed to bite the bullet by keeping faith with the same side that lost to Leeds.
This is a bit hard to stomach as, even as a parks football manager, you might be tempted to give your losing side another chance if the next match wasn’t vital but any manager worth his salt would field their best available side for a critical fixture, which the Wigan fixture had become.
The visotors were struggling and this was a match to be brave and put early pressure on their defence – something that was never likely to happen with the comparatively dimunitive Che Adams up front backed by a midfield diamond. In fairness, when he came on, Jutkiewicz was more influential but the horse had already bolted after old boy Dan Burn had pierced Blues’ fragile back line.
We’re now getting gradually dragged into the relegation mire and can only be thankful that those below us are also generally struggling, with, of course, the notable exception of Wigan. However, Giafranco is now making statements bordering on the desperate and with Cardiff away and Newcastle at home up next, it’s all looking very bleak.
It now seems likely that even TTA may cut their losses if, as seems fairly certain , those two games become pointless affairs. They will want to ensure that we stay in the Championship as fans are for the first time starting to clearly voice their disapproval.